Tabloid TV star spurns offer to stay as host of 'Inside Edition: 'Time for me to move on'

Tabloid TV star Deborah Norville announced her departure from “Inside Edition” after refusing an offer to extend her 30-year run as host of the daytime newsprogram.Norville, the former beauty pageant contestant and host of NBC’s “Today” show who began anchoring “Inside Edition” in 1995, shared her decision during Wednesday’s broadcast.“It has been an honor and a privilege to be here at ‘Inside Edition’ for all these years… I have decided that now is the time for me to move on,” Norville said.The host revealed that “Inside Edition” made a pitch to get her to stay as host, but she declined.“They made me a lovely offer to stay, but there are things I’d like to do and places I want to do them that continuing here doesn’t permit,” Norville told viewers during Wednesday’s broadcast.“So, at the end of the season, I’ll be moving on.”The Dalton, Ga., native expressed gratitude for the opportunity and hinted at future endeavors.“I’ve got some exciting things in the works, which I’ll talk about later, but what I want to say now is what a privilege it’s been to lead Inside Edition for all these years.”Norville’s professional career began while she was still in college, with an internship at Georgia Public Television’s “The Lawmakers.”She was then able to land a weekend reporting job at WAGA-TV in Atlanta.In 1982, Norville was hired by WMAQ-TV in Chicago, an NBC-owned station, where she served as a reporter and anchor.Her work led to a promotion to anchor “NBC News at Sunrise” in 1987, where she became the only solo female anchor of a network newscast at the time.Norville got her big break in 1989, when she was tapped to be a news anchor on NBC’s “Today” show.

By January 1990, she became the co-host following the departure of the popular Jane Pauley.However, her time at “Today” was tumultuous, marked by public scrutiny and falling ratings.Viewers who were emotionally attached to Pauley did not warm to...